Can science rob snakes of their deadliest weapon?

ByUsha Lee McFarling

March 21, 2017

Ian Waldie/Getty Images

IRVINE, Calif. — Even in a test tube, snake venom is terrifying.

Mix a few beads of venom from a deadly Indian krait with blood cells and, within an instant, the clear liquid will turn bright red as toxins blast through the cells, rupturing their membranes. One look tells you more than you want to know about the excruciating pain of a snakebite.

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I went to a lecture by an Anesthesiologist and also a herpetologist (sp?, Snake Expert). He resides in Kingman, Arizona. He gave evidence, over mean years, that if the snake bite victim is put on a ventilator, and one waits, the patient will return to life. Thus, with the chart showing the high death rate, it would seem educating the medical community to intubate poisonous snake bite victims and keeping them ventilated would be the solution.

There will be local damage from the poison, but if all this is true, then the patient will still be alive.